Lutheran radio program's demise is a symptom of larger ills ("Issues, Etc." and LCMS)

St. Louis Post-Dispatch ^ | April 19, 2008 | Tim Townsend

[Charles Henrickson]

. . . said the Rev. Charles Henrickson. . . .

Hey, I know that guy! He's a FReeper!

[Charles Henrickson]

I could only post about 100 words worth of excerpts (per FR rules), but the whole article (linked above) is worth reading and discussing.

[Charles Henrickson]

Needs a Lutheran Ping.

[Charles Henrickson]

Related thread from this past Tuesday:

Missouri-Synod Lutherans protest cancellation of radio show (Issues Etc)

[Erasmus]

Ja shoor!

[Erasmus]

Hey, I just read your tagline, so I guess it’s for real!

Many moons ago, in the Kennedy Administration, I initiated a series of Sunday morning radio broadcasts of services from our local Church. I think the church belonged to what was called “ELC” at the time.

For grins, I recently tuned in on the web to that local station (since I now live far from my home territory) and they’re still carrying the broadcasts. They precede it with a half-hour of “The Lutheran Hour” (hmmm...sumpin’ odd there).

[bcsco]

Hey, I know that guy! He's a FReeper!

He FReeps with a lyrical mindset!

[bcsco]

Our local radio station (small town Illinois) runs a half-hour of the Lutheran Hour every Sunday, initiating from our Church. For awhile I was webmaster for our Church’s LCMS CTSMemberConnect website and would bring home tapes of the services for uploading the sermons to the site in mp3 format.

But our boards never could get the hang of (or get interested in) using the website for communicating, and I finally urged the council to drop it. It wasn’t worth the cost. We still have our local Church/School website, but the CTS site could have been very useful. Oh, well...

[bcsco]

Judging from what I’ve read about “The Afternoon Show”, the station may not have helped itself out of that $3.5 million shortfall by substituting it for “Issues, Etc.” Of course, one wonders just what portion of that shortfall was really due to “Issues, Etc.” and not the other programming.

[Arrowhead1952]

"Like most denominations, we have differences of opinion on things … but Dr. Kieschnick wants a deeper sense of peace throughout the church."

I don't know what Dr. Kieschnick's problem is, but ticking off a large number of your synod is not what I consider very smart. I grew up with several Kieschnicks in my younger days in central Texas in the LCMS.

[LS]

I thought evangelical church growth WAS the “doctrine” of every Christian denomination.

[lightman]

Gladly!

Lutheran Ping!

Alleluia! Christ is Risen!

[lightman]

"This is a symptom of a much larger problem," said the Rev. Charles Henrickson, pastor of St. Matthew Lutheran Church in Bonne Terre, Mo. "This is about whether we retain our Lutheran identity or just blend in with American evangelicalism."

Amazing how the shadows of Samuel Simon Schmucker and Bejamin Kurtz now extend to St. Louis, Missouri!

For those who don't know North American Lutheran history, the above named were 19th century clergy who advocated gutting the Augsburg Confesssion in general and abadoning the doctrine of the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist in particular in favor of a generic Protestantism which they termed "American Lutheranism". They also were enthusiastic supporters of American revivalism, altar calls, and the use of the "anxious bench".

[Terriergal]

Awesome thanks for pinging me!

lightman can you add me to your Lutheran ping list?

[Terriergal]

Judging from what I’ve read about “The Afternoon Show”, the station may not have helped itself out of that $3.5 million shortfall by substituting it for “Issues, Etc.”

They weren't trying to 'help themselves out' in that way. They were removing obstacles to their agenda, which Issues Etc was simply by teaching discernment to its listeners.

[Terriergal]

I don't know what Dr. Kieschnick's problem is, but ticking off a large number of your synod is not what I consider very smart. I grew up with several Kieschnicks in my younger days in central Texas in the LCMS.

He's a church growth nut. SO they invest in increasing numbers, as if that means the true church is growing. They end up compromising or distracting from the true message of the church by which the church actually grows.

[Terriergal]

I thought evangelical church growth WAS the “doctrine” of every Christian denomination.

Definitions are crucial. Kieschnick preaches "Rick warren" and "Bill hybels" style church growth, which is not Scriptural at all. (though they would of course claim otherwise.)

[Fester Chugabrew]

At what point do the attitudes and actions of St. Louis affect disassociation in parishes where orthodoxy is faithfully practiced? The LCMS does not (yet) practice altar a pulpit fellowship with Southern Baptists, for example, because that body as a whole is out of sync with the Lutheran Confessions. Now it seems a large portion of the LCMS is, too.

“A stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers. . . . My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. A stranger they will not hear, but they will flee from him.”

[lightman]

Read my post # 13 upstream.

Those who fail to learn from the past...

Ironically, it was Schmuckerism that led to the formation of the General Conference in which the antecedants of the LCMS found a home for a while.

[LS]

Hmm. Well, I to to a Bill Hybels-type church. While I absolutely do not agree with everything they do or say, as we Baptists used to call it, "getting people saved" is something they do VERY well. Where they fall short is after people get saved, but as a purely "introduce people to Jesus Christ," few denominations/groups do it better right now. That is, I think, the basis of evangelism.

I do think one is obliged to preach the "whole" Word, but in limited time, first things first.